People actually read digital magazines (and they’re ready to buy)

People are increasingly happy to read magazine content on a tablet, but they …

The publishing industry is still feeling out ways to take advantage of new digital formats. Plenty of traditional magazine subscribers have declared that they still prefer old fashioned print, but a group of brave souls has slowly grown in number since the iPad was introduced in 2010: those who read magazines on tablets. Whether the general public loves them or hates them is still up for grabs, but according to a newly published survey conducted by the Association of Magazine Media (MPA--long story), those who already read magazines on tablets are really getting into them, with some suggestions on how to improve.

The MPA surveyed 1,009 adult digital magazine readers on their use habits, with a whopping 90 percent claiming to read as much or more magazine content than they did before acquiring a tablet, with two-thirds saying they plan to consume even more magazines now that they can do so digitally. But it seems that most prefer the newsstand-style subscriptions (that is, an area to retrieve their new content all in the same place)—76 percent of survey respondents said they preferred this route to individual apps. And more than half, 55 percent, said they like to be able to read digital back issues of their favorite magazines.

These users have a handful of requests that are not widely implemented among digital magazines, however, including the ability to buy products directly from editorial features (70 percent) and the ability to buy directly from digital ads (59 percent). Frankly it's surprising this isn't already commonplace—ads do exist to sell products, after all—but we're guessing this is partly due to the fact that most magazines are still porting over their print issues instead of working to create digital versions from scratch.

"While various research has long proved that print magazines drive purchase behavior, digital magazines hold the promise of creating a direct link between purchase intent and actual transaction," MPA EVP of Digital Christopher Kevorkian said in a statement. Indeed, it seems that if the publishing industry is looking to tablets to help keep them afloat, they would do well to take advantage of consumer interest in buying products directly.

But as noted by All Things D, the very fact that this survey exists (and with more than a thousand respondents, at that) is a telltale sign that digital magazines are taking off with someone: "We’ve been wanting to do this research for some time, but didn’t have the critical mass to query," Kevorkian said.

The Ars staff has tentatively taken a liking to a few digital magazines, such as GQ, Popular Mechanics, and Sports Illustrated, but as a group, we have yet to really get into magazines in tablet format on a larger scale. What about you? Any favorites that have stood out in terms of layout or implementation?

Jacqui Cheng
Jacqui is an Editor at Large at Ars Technica, where she has spent the last eight years writing about Apple culture, gadgets, social networking, privacy, and more. Emailjacqui@arstechnica.com//Twitter@eJacqui

I'm a fan of Zinio - it allows me to get digital copies of magazines when they release rather than waiting 506 weeks for them to cross the atlantic, and they're perfectly readable on the iPad. I'm not really fussed about all-singing, all-dancing multimedia editions, more the speed of delivery and the fact that I don't have to find more space on the shelves.

Since I discovered Zinio, I haven't looked back. It's basically the iTunes of digital magazines. They may not have *everything*, but they have most things. I've got a few specific gripes about the app itself, but they're all hugely outweighed by the disappearance of stacks of old magazines on the back of my toilet.

Just like I'll never return to physical music CDs, I'll never return to physical magazines.

The Economist is outstanding. It's easy to read, even on an iPhone. It also has a feature where every article is available in audio, read by a human, not text-to-speech. It has the same content as the print edition, and even comes out two days earlier. How can you beat that?

I would go digital, buta) there's no app for reading on a laptop/desktop. I don't have a tablet and a phone is too small to read on for an extended session b) a digital subscription often costs more than the print equivalent (Custom PC and Economist for me)

I would go digital, buta) there's no app for reading on a laptop/desktop. I don't have a tablet and a phone is too small to read on for an extended session b) a digital subscription often costs more than the print equivalent (Custom PC and Economist for me)

I get all of my technical magazines as digital editions -- all 23 of them -- but only if I can get them as PDFs. Obviously with this volume of magazines, if I received them in "dead tree" form I'd be looking at a couple of hundred pounds of paper per year. With digital I set aside a few tens of gigs on my laptop hard drive and I can keep at least a year's worth with me wherever I go. There are some advantages to dead tree formats -- easier to bookmark and read anywhere being the most important -- but the advantages of digital versions completely outweigh them.

I only accept PDFs because I have yet to find an online format that lets me read the way I want to -- and even if I found one, there would still be magazines in other formats. With my volume, the consistency of my reading experience is critical and PDF lets me use the same reader for everything.

Well if only Magazines and other journalistic web sites (I'm looking at you Ars) would use the WWW for their publications. I mean it is not enough to write your own prose and may be link to some article that the publication has written before. I'm regularly missing the links to background material (original press releases, laws of congress, citations, brand/organizations mentioned, people mentioned, places, historic events, etc.). This is more then a decade of the Web and it has gone backwards, in the name of "staying on the [my] website" short term thinking.

The web could be so much more useful if it would actually cross index its facts. Or are the journalists afraid of publishing their source?

I, too, have recently switched to The Economist digital subscription. It's handy to be able to download the issues on WiFi at home, and then have something to read while out and about (on the metro, at the doctor's waiting room, etc), and also be able to sign in and read on the home computer via browser. I also like not having my house cluttered with old print issues that the pack-rat in me finds hard to throw out. Digital back issues are less of an eyesore.

Need to look into digital magazine subscriptions again. When I bought a Nook Color early this year the price of the digital subscriptions for almost all of the magazines I was interested in and were available digitally were more than the print versions- in some cases a lot more. Would rather sub digitally, but not going to pay more to do it.

"... with a whopping 90 percent claiming to read as much or more magazine content than they did before acquiring a tablet, with two-thirds saying they plan to consume even more magazines now that they can do so digitally."

I call shenanigans.

The 90% is just there to use a big number and there isn't anything particularly whopping about it because of the "as much". The real number is 67%, so why couldn't you simply state that?

From the numbers stated in the article, 23% won't change their reading habbits and 10% plan to read less magazine content.

That last number, 10% is pretty interesting. Is tablet content consumption taking away from magazine reading? Or is it that you can't afford magazines once you paid so much for a tablet.

On the whole, 67% read more, 10% read less, so certainly an overall increase. Just not as dramatic as the author would like us to think from the lead sentence.

I get Bloomberg Businessweek paper and e-copy. It was a gift from my wife when they started doing subscriptions on iPad. It's neat but a bit of a mixed bag.

I like reading it on the iPad, but I'm not thrilled about the multimedia presentation. Just make it like any other e-book (maybe with built in hyperlinks or something, if absolutely necessary). Figuring out how to turn the page can be surprisingly awkward. Otherwise, it's pretty cool.

I'm sure I'm not getting "a deal" though, since I get both paper and e-copy. I'm also not sure that after the sub is up that I get to keep on reading the ecopy. Probably not, and in the long term I'd find that annoying as well.

They need to follow the same standard for online purchases that the music and game companies are evolving towards:

No DRM? Download at least once.

DRM? Download as many times as you need to, until at least when the business is no longer running.

The only time I buy magazines is when I'm in an airport (about one trip a month) and the only reason I buy them is so I can have something to read while the airplane takes off and lands. Usually the magazine goes away as soon as we hit altitude and the Kindle or iPad comes out.

I mention that because it is often tough to find a magazine to buy. I don't like paying as much as a novel for a thick stack of advertisements with one or two interesting articles inserted in among them. Sometimes I just choose to twiddle my thumbs and stare out the windows while the plane takes off.

I've looked in the Newstand section and I have no desire to replicate this experience in the iPad.

Maybe if they started selling magazines by the article I might be interested. Don't knock it: they sell music by the song now, and TV shows by the episode. Why not sell magazines by the article? I would be more than willing to pay 0.99 cents for an article I really want to read.

Wow! I am amazed by all the Zinio on iPad fans. I think the app sucks. I use it on the desktop for a few magazines, but when it comes to my iPad the native magazine apps destroy it. I love my Car and Driver, and Automobile magazine apps. My fiance loves reading People on the iPad. I also get the paper versions, but never read them since the iPad version has more content and awesome videos with the car reviews. I compared the native apps VS Zinio, since Zinio has the subscriptions CHEAPER, but it was worth the money to me for the much better native app.

I'm consistently amazed that companies peddling dead trees and their electronic equivalents are able to survive in a world where their product has been completely commoditized. Specialty and scientific publications notwithstanding, there is nothing on God's green earth that could ever compel me to actually *gag* pay for news from any of the bloated, dead-but-haven't-yet-realized-it traditional media organizations.

Although...I am an Ars subscriber, so maybe all it would take to get me to pay would be stand-out journalism and editorial content in an arena that I care about. Hmmmm.

They need to get the school sales involved in this somehow. At least in our area most of the schools sell magazine subscriptions to raise money. Therefore, the few magazines that I do get almost all get purchased through this avenue.

I would love to go all digital, as I do the digital thing with my magazines that allow for free digital with a paper subscription, but I will not pay twice for content just to get it on a tablet.

only magazine I read is The New Yorker and now the app is quite good, like the audio and video extras as well as the special issuesnext time subscription comes up will choose the digital only option if available

may try out the Economist but don't really have the time to read it, do check the website

It's not quite the same, but I have happily switched to digital versions of the annual catalogs I want and use throughout the year. Unfortunately this doesn't stop marketers from sending me stacks of dead tree editions that go straight from the mail box to the recycle bin.

I have been reading Bloomberg Businessweek and the economist on the iPad, mostly as supplements to print edition since you can access them for free if you subscribe in paper.

I have very recently given my father back his iPad once I got my touchpad. I looked at Zinio which a lot of people above have mention. Boy it really is expensive. Digital copies should never cost MORE than paper subscriptions. A 1 year subscription on Zinio is more expensive than a 1 year CANADIAN paper subscription(They always add on like $20 dollars extra for Canada), doesn't let you use the iPad Businessweek app that has less ads and extra content. Not to mention I live in Canada and can not get the Businessweek Zinio subscription anyways.

I don't think I'll do digital subs until they are like $10 a year. A lot of the Paper ones give you either access to website or iPad app which is just a way better deal. If you really hate having the paper copy around change the address to a friends house who might want it.

The only time I buy magazines is when I'm in an airport (about one trip a month) and the only reason I buy them is so I can have something to read while the airplane takes off and lands. Usually the magazine goes away as soon as we hit altitude and the Kindle or iPad comes out.

I mention that because it is often tough to find a magazine to buy. I don't like paying as much as a novel for a thick stack of advertisements with one or two interesting articles inserted in among them. Sometimes I just choose to twiddle my thumbs and stare out the windows while the plane takes off.

I've looked in the Newstand section and I have no desire to replicate this experience in the iPad.

Maybe if they started selling magazines by the article I might be interested. Don't knock it: they sell music by the song now, and TV shows by the episode. Why not sell magazines by the article? I would be more than willing to pay 0.99 cents for an article I really want to read.

Interesting how what happened to music is now happening to print? Think the "journalistic integrity" will be compromised?